Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the people themselves, of their own volition, as it says in the Good Friday Agreement, come to that conclusion we must strongly support it. We all will. I understand where Deputy Cullinane is coming from, but I do not agree with it.

For the past 20 years we had, in effect, a people who were united in spirit and in common cause. The people North and South on this island could travel any way they wanted - across the water or North and South. They could do business any way they wanted and did so to the benefit of the island North and South in a way that has never been known to happen since 1798, which was about the last time that happened.

We should have learned a great lesson from that. As my colleague across the way would say, there is a time when one has to hold it and fold it. Sometimes one has to walk away, but in this case we are not going to run.

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